


The Secret Invasion

by Cheriluvs10



Category: Fleetwood Mac (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Drama, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-11-09 15:07:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11107092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheriluvs10/pseuds/Cheriluvs10
Summary: Fleetwood Mac. AU. Tusk Era. Stevie Nicks feels like her life is hellish. She is constantly arguing with her ex boyfriend while trying to record a new album. All around her is fighting, turmoil and drugs but a sudden event happens that changes everything and makes recording Tusk look like a cakewalk. Suddenly, Stevie finds herself fighting not only for her life but for Earth as well.





	1. Chapter 1

Prologue

(A long time ago on a planet far, far away…)

“No! You can’t do this to us!”

The prisoner turned his head to look at the men holding him. The prisoner, Archeon, and his friends were being half walked/half dragged towards a room where they would be stripped of their bodies; their consciousness would be put into a strange body and sent away to a planet that for all intents and purposes was backwards. And all because him and his friends tried to assassinate the emperor, the man responsible for ruining their lives. Granted, they were young and it was a foolhardy attempt, almost a suicide mission but the emperor was a megalomaniac who wanted not only their planet under his heel but as many planets as he could get. They had been chosen by their people because they were young and their people thought they might be able to get away with the assassination since no one would suspect they were killers. But they had never killed anyone before and they basically bungled their attempt before being caught. 

So this was their punishment. To live their lives in another body, banished to a technologically primitive world where the intelligent species were basically apes. And we were never allowed to come back, as if the apes had a way for us to travel from there to our planet. And if somehow we did find a way back, we would be subjected to a slow, torturous, painful death as opposed to a slow, torturous, painful death on a primitive planet. 

Archeon was dragged into the room. There were several lab tables in the center of the room and he was forced down onto one and held there was a forcefield restraint. As his friends were forced down onto the other lab tables, Archeon looked up at a lab tech who was readying him for extraction of his consciousness.

“You won’t get away with this,” Archeon said to the lab tech. “If you think this is getting rid of us, you’re wrong!”

The lab tech ignored him as he put electrodes all over his bald head. Archeon tried to struggle but it was futile. All he could do was watch as the lab techs prepared him and his friends for the hell that was to come. As he lay there on the table, he silently vowed that one day he would fulfill his mission and somehow stop the emperor and his allies before they ruined any more lives the way they were ruining his.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter One

(Village Recorder Studios, 1979…)

The music ended around the same time that Lindsey finished singing. He looked through the window of the iso booth at Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut who were sitting at the console.

“How was that?” he asked.

“That was great, Lindsey,” Ken said after pressing the microphone button. 

Mick, who was standing behind Lindsey, gave him a thumb’s up and nodded. 

“Sounds good, mate,” Lindsey heard him saying through the speaker. 

Lindsey nodded. He put his headphones down on a wooden stool nearby and headed towards the iso booth door. It had been a long day and he was tired. All he wanted to do was smoke a joint and climb into bed for a nice long rest. It’d been a grueling couple of months and it didn’t help that Warner Brothers was riding their asses, trying to make sure they did more work than partying. Not that they hadn’t done their fair share of partying, after all, they felt they were entitled to a little fun and as long as they kept on working, who cared if there were times they got so wasted, they barely remembered where they were, let alone trying to record anything. 

But at the moment, it was all business. He was working on I Know I’m Not Wrong, getting his vocal part as near to perfection as he could get which was never nearly good enough as far as he was concerned. He knew his bandmates were getting irritated at him but he wanted this album to be just as good as Rumours. He wanted them to keep changing with the times and not become stale and stagnated. If that meant he had to go through take after take to get the sound he wanted, so be it. 

There were times though when he wondered if it was all worth it. Even though he was now richer than he’d ever been in his life, all the stress and anguish and heartbreak that came with it made him wonder if it was really worth it. And his relationship with Stevie was in tatters. The woman he loved had turned away from him and it nearly destroyed him. Granted, it hadn’t been the best decision becoming involved with her in the first place but he couldn’t help it. Stevie had captured his heart and had never let it go. But he hadn’t known quite how to handle her. He had tried to be dominant and heavy handed and tried to control her but that only served to push her further away from him and now he was paying the price for it. He glanced at his friends as he walked past them, muttering about how he needed a bit of fresh air. He could feel his friends watching him but he ignored them as he walked towards the studio door.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Towards Midnight, Stevie decided to follow Lindsey’s lead and step outside for some fresh air. She came outside and stopped short when she saw Ken, Richard, Mick and Lindsey standing in the middle of the parking lot. All of them had their backs to her as they were gazing up at the night sky and talking quietly. None of them had noticed her so she crept up quietly behind them. All of them were smoking and she could smell the cigarette smoke as the wind blew it back towards her. 

“I don’t know if I can keep on doing this,” Lindsey said to his friends after taking a drag on his cigarette. 

“Keep on doing what?” Mick said.

“Keep on acting normal when you and I know full well we’re not.”

Stevie froze, frowning as she wondered what Lindsey meant by that. 

“I suppose you’ll have to keep on acting normal because you don’t really have much of a choice, do you?” Ken said to him. 

Why are we even here?” Lindsey said. 

“You know full well why we’re here,” Mick said. 

“Yes, I know why we’re here but surely there’s a way to leave. We need to go back. We need to do what we set out to do, not waste our time recording some silly music album.”

Stevie was floored when she heard Lindsey say that. Tusk was his baby, the album he’d insisted be done his way and now he was calling it silly? And what was all this talk about leaving? Was he so fed up with her that he was thinking of leaving the area entirely? 

“If there’s a way to leave, we haven’t found it yet,” Richard said. “And I doubt we’re ever gonna find it, not in our lifetimes at least.”

Lindsey sighed angrily and looked up at the stars. Stevie shook her head. We’re they all stoned or at least more stoned than usual. Their conversation wasn’t making any sense to her. 

“Damn him, when I get my hands on him, I’ll kill him,” Lindsey snarled. “He’ll pay for what he did to us.”

Stevie’s breath caught in her throat. Now she really was terrified. Whatever Lindsey did or whatever he took, it was making him act irrational and she suddenly had a need to get away from them. She tried backing up towards the door but her foot accidentally kicked a rock. She winced when it made a clicking sound against the pavement and she froze when her friends turned to look at her. 

“Hey, Stevie, come out to get some fresh air too?” Ken said.

“Um…yeah, I did,” Stevie said, trying to remain calm and make it seem as if she’d just stepped outside. 

Hoping that her friends weren’t gonna wig out on her, she walked towards them. Richard and Ken moved over and made room for her as she stepped in between Richard and Mick. Stevie looked at all of them. They were smiling warmly at her, except for Lindsey who still seemed to be fixated on the stars. She cleared her throat.

“Nice night tonight,” she said casually.

“Yes, the stars are beautiful,” Richard said.

“Too bad we can’t see the stars from inside the studio,” Stevie said lamely, not really knowing what to say after hearing their previous conversation.

“Well, we could if we got a bit of dynamite and blew the roof sky high,” Mick said. 

“Too bad we didn’t think of putting in a roofless roof when we requested they build the studio to our liking,” Ken added. “We could have asked for a roofless roof.”

“That would have shown them all how much we’re into excess,” Mick joked. “We’re so rich; we can build a studio without a roof on it and get away with it!”

Stevie smiled at that. She glanced at Lindsey and noticed he was still fixated on the stars, not responding to anything anyone said. His silence made her uneasy, especially after he talked about killing someone. Had Lindsey really become so unhinged that he was contemplating murder? She began to back up towards the door.

“Stevie, you okay?” Richard said. 

“Yeah, I’m fine, see you inside,” Stevie said hurriedly.

She turned and ran while everyone, Lindsey included, watched her silently.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Two

For the rest of the night, Stevie remained silent, except when it came to anything to do with the album. Even then she kept her questions and comments short and to the point. She could see everyone giving her odd looks and she suspected that Richard, Ken, Mick and Lindsey probably figured out that she’d heard their conversation but if they did have suspicions, she didn’t confirm them. John and Chris also kept gazing over at her and giving her odd looks when she kept to herself. 

This went on for a couple of hours. Stevie sat behind Richard and Ken while they recorded one of Mick’s drum parts. She was writing in her journal while they worked but she could see out of her peripheral vision and she noticed that every once in awhile they would quickly turn their heads to look at her before they usually shared a look and then went back to doing whatever it was they were doing. She pretended to ignore them and everyone else while inside her mind was replaying what she’d heard outside over and over, trying to figure out what the hell it meant. Lindsey was capable of being a bastard and a cruel, heartless bastard at that but a murderer? Try as she might, Stevie couldn’t picture Lindsey killing anyone. She wondered if it was just an empty threat. Some bravado statement like I’m gonna kick his ass, said out of anger and nothing else. But if so who was the empty threat directed at? It wasn’t her since she heard him say “He” but who was “He”? She wondered briefly if it was Don Henley. She knew he was still sore over her dating him and she knew he’d been angry about that but just the same, she still couldn’t picture her murdering him. 

“Stevie!”

Stevie gasped when she was jolted from her musings at the sound of her name. She looked up at Richard who was bending over slightly to look at her. 

“Um…did you hear me?” he said to her.

Uh…no, I’m sorry Richard, I was just thinking while I was writing in my journal. What did you say?”

“I was asking if you wanted a soda or something. I was going into the lounge to get me and Ken a couple of beers and since you were sitting here, I thought I’d be polite and ask if you wanted something too.”  
“Oh. Um…no thanks, Richard, I’m fine.”

“Are you?”

Stevie shifted slightly when she saw the quizzical look on his face. Behind him, Ken was sitting in his chair, studying her intently. She suddenly felt very self-conscious under their scrutiny.   
“I’m fine. I was just deep in thought is all,” Stevie said to them. 

We’ve been wondering about you. You’ve been quiet for hours. Did Lindsey say something to you?” Richard said.

No…I’m just…tired,” Stevie said, shaking her head. 

couldn’t tell whether or not Richard was buying that but Richard shook his head, smiled and headed towards the lounge door. Ken had spun the chair so he was facing sideways from her but she could tell even though he was watching the lounge door that he had his eyes on her. What surprised her was how reticent she was being around them. Both men were her friends, especially Richard, and she always felt like she could tell them anything but something inside her was holding back and preventing her from being open about hearing their conversation outside. And she couldn’t understand why. In the hours since, Lindsey had been calm and professional and wasn’t acting like he wanted to run away or kill someone. But in all the years she’d known Lindsey, she’d never heard him talk like that and it creeped her out and she guessed that Richard, Ken and Mick knew exactly what he was talking about. 

Richard came back inside the room, holding an opened bottle of beer in each hand. He gave one to Ken and sat down and both men swiveled back around and resumed working on one of the songs. Stevie went back to writing in her journal but at the same time, she kept her ears turned to them while they talked over the song. But all she heard them say was technical stuff about how to make the song better when they weren’t just listening to it. Eventually, after an hour of listening to them talk shop, she zoned out and concentrated on her journal. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Several hours later, everyone decided to call it quits for the night. They’d worked on I Know I’m Not Wrong as well as Fireflies and got a lot of work done. Everyone was exhausted and Stevie only wanted to go home and sleep. As she gathered her things, she sensed someone coming up behind her. She stiffened when her senses told her it was Lindsey and she went faster in trying to gather her stuff. 

“Steves, can I drive you home? I wanted to talk to you,” Lindsey said to her. 

“Lindsey, I don’t want to fight,” Stevie said, turning to him.

“I didn’t say fight, I said talk, there’s a difference.”

Stevie studied his face. There was no anger there or perceived malice. In fact, he seemed very concerned and Stevie wondered if he was going to talk about the incident in the parking lot. At first, she was going to say no, preferring to have a limo come and get her but her curiosity got the better of her and she agreed. She noticed relief wash over Lindsey’s face and there was even a small smile. He seemed friendly enough; maybe the night wouldn’t end in a screaming match after all. 

She wished everyone good night and told them that she’d see them in a few hours before following Lindsey to his car. As they walked, Lindsey kept giving her sideways glances and Stevie again wondered what Lindsey’s motive was for driving her home. But he didn’t say anything until Stevie was sitting in the passenger seat and he was pulling out of the parking lot and heading for her home. 

“Stevie, are you okay? Richard and Ken were concerned. You suddenly stopped talking and became very hermit like,” Lindsey said as they drove. “And I’m inclined to agree with them. In fact, you became silent after you spoke to us in the parking lot. Did something happen?”

“Stevie debated on what to tell him and whether or not she should be truthful but she really couldn’t come up with a plausible excuse for her behavior and why she’d suddenly become so withdrawn.”  
“I came out while you guys were talking and what you said didn’t make any sense. And you talked about wanting to leave and killing someone, Linds.”

Lindsey flinched at that. 

“I wasn’t talking about you, Stevie. I have no plans to kill you despite our estrangement.”

“I know that since you said “He” when you mentioned killing someone. Who are you wanting to kill, Lindsey?”

“A man who ruined my life a long time ago.”

Stevie frowned, completely confused.

“And you’re still holding a grudge against this person?” she said, wondering who in the world it could be.

“Yes.”

“Enough of a grudge to want to kill them?”

“I feel that way, yes.”

“What did this person do to ruin your life? I mean, I thought I knew most of what’s happened in your life just like you know most of my life story and you never mentioned someone ruining your life to the extent you wanna kill them.”

“It…happened a long time ago, Stevie. Long before I met you. This person was a bastard who…got back at me when I tried to stand up to him.”

“Got back at you how?”

I’d rather not say.”

Now Stevie was completely confused. 

“You won’t tell me but you’ll tell Richard, Ken and Mick because they seemed to know what you were talking about,” Stevie said

“Stevie, it’s complicated. It’s very long and complicated and I’d rather not get into it at three in the morning.”

“I understand. You don’t trust me anymore, not after what happened between us.”

“No, it’s not like that…I mean…it’s just that I really don’t want you to know about it, Stevie.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s something that I think would cause you to turn away from me forever.”

ruthful laugh escaped Stevie’s lips. 

“I already turned away from you, Linds, when I broke up with you.”

“But you didn’t turn away completely. If I told you the truth, you’d never want to be in the same room with me ever again. You’d run from me and never look back.”

Stevie stared at him.

“Lindsey, you’re seriously scaring me now,” Stevie said. 

“No, it’s nothing to do with you, Stevie, alright? Please don’t be scared,” he said, glancing at her with pleading eyes. 

“You really can’t trust me anymore?”

I can trust you, Stevie. But I’m afraid you couldn’t trust me if I told you the truth.”

“Why don’t you try me then? See if I can handle it or not.”

Lindsey fell silent and Stevie could tell he was mulling over what she said. She didn’t know what to think about all this, to be honest. One part of her wanted to hear this big secret out of curiosity but another part of her didn’t want to know if it was something that would cause her to run from Lindsey. 

“I still don’t know if I should, Stevie,” Lindsey finally said. “What I have to say…it should be left in the past because there’s no way to change what happened.”

“Okay, I understand that. And you’re right, the past can’t be changed but maybe it would help relieve a burden off of you if you opened up to someone and told them this huge secret of yours. If it’s harmed you so much that you still want to kill whoever did it to you, maybe talking to me about it will help you begin to heal from it.”

She frowned when Lindsey now let out a bitter laugh. He shook his head. 

“I don’t think it’s that easy, Steves. I understand about getting things off your chest but I guarantee I’ll still be angry and bitter, even if I tell you the truth.”  
“But…as I said before, you can tell your male friends,” Stevie said angrily.

Lindsey sighed through his nose. 

“The reason why I can tell them is because they’re a part of it,” he said.

Stevie was flummoxed.

“A part of your…secret?” she said.

“Yes.”

“This secret that supposedly happened long before you met any of them? Because you said it happened before you met me and you didn’t meet Richard, Ken or Mick until after you met me.”

“Stevie, I know you want to know but I think it’s better I didn’t tell you. In this instance, ignorance really is bliss.”

Stevie signed angrily, aware that Lindsey was once again shutting down and shutting her out. She turned her face to the window beside her and gazed out it in silent anger, unaware that Lindsey was glancing at her with a heartbroken look on his face.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Three

For the rest of the night, Stevie tried to get some sleep but she couldn’t get herself to stop thinking about everything that’d happened. The conversation in the parking lot plus what Lindsey said in the car gnawed at her mind. The thing that bothered her most was Lindsey’s revelation that he had known Richard, Ken and Mick before he’d met her. So was the first meeting between them and Richard staged then? As well as Mick’s offer to have them join Fleetwood Mac. And Ken flubbed up her name when he met her during the recording of the King Biscuit Flower Hour. He’d called her Lindsey, totally clueless about her real name, was that faked too? She’d like to think it was Lindsey bullshitting her, except deep down inside she knew it wasn’t. 

She raised her head when she heard someone knocking on her door. She glanced at her clock and noticed it was nearly seven in the morning. Wondering who was at her door at such and early hour, she got up, slipped on a pink silk robe and tied it around her body as she headed towards the front door. She got to the front door and paused as she looked through the peephole. She was shocked to see Lindsey standing there and she could see Mick behind him. She opened the door and was even more shocked when she saw all of her band mates plus Richard and Ken standing there. 

“Guys, is something wrong?” Stevie said. 

“We need to talk, Stevie,” Lindsey said. 

Wondering what was going on, Stevie stepped aside and let everyone come inside. She watched while everyone walked to her living room. Once everyone was inside, she shut the door and followed them to the room. Everyone was sitting on the sofas and chairs, waiting expectantly for her. Stevie looked around at them before asking if they wanted something to eat or drink. Everyone shook their heads and Stevie walked over to an empty chair and sat down, waiting for them to talk. Lindsey glanced at his friends before he cleared his throat. 

“Um…we didn’t wake you, did we?” he said. 

“No, I couldn’t get to sleep at all last night.”

“That’s what we thought,” Lindsey said. “Um…obviously after I dropped you off, I made a few telephone calls,” he added, gesturing to the other people in the room. “I figured you might be curious to hear an explanation about what I told you in the car.”

“That would be nice, yes. Especially the part where you said you knew Richard, Ken and Mick before you even met me.”

“Well, actually, I knew all these guys before I met you,” Lindsey said, nodding at his friends. 

“So, everything’s been a lie,” Stevie said bitterly.

“No, not everything. I wasn’t lying about loving you. I do love you, Stevie,” Lindsey said. 

“But lied about knowing everyone in this room, why would you do that, Lindsey?”

“Because I was trying to protect them,” Lindsey said. “Actually, we’ve tried to protect each other.”

“From what?” Stevie said. 

“From our past for one thing,” Lindsey said, looking down at his clasped hands. 

“The person that ruined your life that you want to kill?” Stevie said.

“Yes. But actually, he ruined all our lives,” Lindsey said, gesturing to his friends.

“Okay, I’m confused. Which is nothing new since I’ve been confused since last night. What is going on, Lindsey? What is this secret you have that you think is gonna make me run from you?”

Lindsey glanced at his friends. 

“Can you keep an open mind, Stevie?” he asked her.

“Yes. You know how open minded I am, Lindsey.”

“Yes, that’s why I’m willing to let you in on our secret. Actually, we are willing to let you in on it. I did talk to the others here before we came here because if I tell you this secret, it’ll affect them too.”

Stevie glanced at everyone else. They were all sitting calmly, letting Lindsey speak. Stevie felt a twinge of sudden fear and she was suddenly apprehensive about hearing this secret.

“Stevie, before I tell you this, just let me say that neither me or not anyone else in this room would ever hurt you. We love you very much, okay?”

“Okay,” Stevie said.

“The reason I say that is we’re not what you think we are.”

Stevie frowned. Then a thought hit her mind. 

“You’re a murderer. Is that why you want so badly to kill someone?”

Lindsey grinned when his friends chuckled at that.

“I do want to kill someone badly but I’ve never succeeded at murdering anyone. Although we did try,” Lindsey said, nodding his head at his friends. 

“Are you serious?” Stevie said. 

“We’re very serious, Stevie,” Mick said. 

“Okay, just give it to me straight, please. No beating around the bush. What is this secret?”

“We’re not human.”

Stevie stared at Lindsey. 

“I’m sorry?” she said. 

“We’re not human. Not really,” Lindsey said. “We have human bodies but our consciousness is part alien.”

Stevie stared at him quietly, trying to figure out if he was bullshitting her or not. 

“You’re aliens in disguise?” Stevie said, deciding to play along for the moment.

“Sorta, except this disguise is permanent,” Lindsey replied, tugging at the skin on his arm. 

“Why are you disguised as humans?”

“We were punished,” John said. 

“Punished for what?” Stevie said. 

“Punished for trying to kill the person that ruined our lives,” Lindsey said. 

“You were turned into a human as a punishment,” Stevie said slowly.

“We weren’t turned into one,” Richard said. “Our consciousness was forced from our bodies and sent to Earth where we entered a fetus in the womb and merged with the consciousness that was already there. So we’re basically a mixture of who we were and the person that was growing in the womb.”

“You were put in a fetus? Why?”

“To live our lives as humans,” Mick said. “Our home world is far beyond this world in terms of technology. To our people, Earth is a backwater mud bucket and humans are primitive apes. Being forced to live as one is considered a punishment on our planet.”

“So you were a fetus, so you were born and grew up here?” Stevie said, trying to wrap her head around what they were saying. 

“Yes,” Lindsey said. “Although, we were aware of ourselves and we remembered who we were. But we did merge with the consciousness that was already in the fetus’s mind so we’re a hybrid of who we are and who “Lindsey” is.”

“So you’re stuck here? Is that why you were angry about wanting to leave?”

Lindsey nodded. 

“Our planet is many light years from here and so far, humans have only made it to the moon, which really doesn’t help us.”

“But why were you punished?” Stevie said.

“We tried to assassinate the emperor of our planet,” Christine said. “We weren’t successful because we’d never had any experience killing anyone before. Plus, we were young but that’s partly why we were chosen because they thought our youth would make it less likely for anyone to suspect us. But the emperor decided that since this was a first offense and because we were so young, that we would live out our lives as humans in exile rather than be put to death.”

“Why were you trying to kill this emperor though?”

“He was and is a tyrant,” Ken said. “Our species is different from his and because of that, we were being harassed and tortured and killed.”

“Sorta like Hitler and the Jews, if you like,” John said. 

“We were tired of him targeting us,” Ken said. “Our people were planning an uprising but first they wanted to kill the emperor, to demoralize his kind and cause confusion. We volunteered because all of us have had family members either persecuted or killed by that bastard and we figured if we didn’t take him out, we’d be victims sooner or later so we signed up to be assassins. We were young and a bit stupid and that’s why we ended up getting caught. Trust me, we never meant to get caught.”

“But what if you killed this guy and couldn’t escape?” Stevie said. “Wouldn’t it be a suicide mission?”

“Yeah, I think it actually was,” Lindsey said. “Although, the organizers didn’t tell us that. I really didn’t think of it either. I was just busy trying to get revenge for my family.”

The others nodded and Stevie looked around at them. She was usually good at reading people but even though the story they were telling her was extremely farfetched, she couldn’t detect any deception on their faces or in their voices. If they were telling the truth though, it was the most bizarre thing she’d ever heard in her life.

“So, if you’re not human, what do…I mean, did you look like?” she said.

“Um…” Mick said. “Tall, think, sort of purplish skin and bald.”

“And big black eyes with no white in them,” Christine added. 

“Well, what did the emperor’s people look like then?”

“Reptilian,” Richard said. “Sorta like humanoid snakes.”

“Okay, your people sound better looking to me than the emperor’s people. So, you came here and decided to become musicians?”

They nodded. 

“Yeah, seemed like an interesting profession,” Lindsey said. “Plus, I found at an early age that I could play a guitar extremely well.”

“And you guys knew each other before you met me?” Stevie said to Lindsey.

“Well, the thing is…I knew them but I didn’t hang out with them. We just recognized one another when we finally found each other again. Like with Richard, I figured out who he was at our first meeting and so did he and that’s why he ended up being our new roommate in less than an hour. I know you thought that I meant I’d been hanging around with them since I was a kid but that’s not what I meant.”

“But Mick…he knew you. That’s why he wanted you to be in the band so bad?”

“I didn’t know who he was until I met you both face to face,” Mick said. “I wanted him because I heard his guitar playing. He wasn’t called Lindsey on our home world so that name meant nothing to me. But when we saw each other, we knew he had to be in Fleetwood Mac.”

“And I was the afterthought,” Stevie said ruthfully.

“Well, to be honest, we didn’t know you,” John said. “You’re not our kind but Lindsey loved you and was insistent about having you in the band so we decided to take you as well.”

“And we’re you attracted to me?” Stevie asked Lindsey. “I mean I’m not your kind.”

“No. But I’m technically not my kind either,” Lindsey said. “And yes, I thought you were gorgeous and sweet and talented. So that wasn’t an act when I fell in love with you. That was real. The problem was I’m used to the women on my home world who are more submissive than you are.”

Stevie raised her eyebrow.

“So, you tried to make me submissive too and when I wouldn’t do it, you tried harder.”

“Yeah. Well, as you can see, I have problems making good decisions given that I’m on a foreign planet in a human body now.”

“So, what happens now? Do you guys age normally…I mean, age like humans.”

“Um…so far,” Lindsey said. “I’m not sure if we live longer than humans or not but we seem to be aging at a normal rate. But unless we can find a way to leave which is highly unlikely, we’re basically stuck here and stuck being musicians and engineers.”

“But you do want to go back home,” Stevie said. “And would you get your bodies back if you did?”

“Probably not,” Richard said. “I’m sure those were disposed of. The reason we want to go back though is we want to finish what we started.”

“You still want to kill this emperor guy?” Stevie said.

“Yes, because he’s not only a tyrant and oppressing our people but he wants to rule the universe if he can help it,” Lindsey said. “He has to be stopped. Not only because of our people but because there are other worlds out there who might end up under his thumb. The man is a megalomaniac.”

“But what if he’s dead? I mean, you guys don’t have a way to contact your people, do you? What if someone else tried to assassinate him and succeeded?”

“Then hurray for them but all the same, we’d like to make sure,” Mick said. 

“And we’d just like to leave,” John said. “Our planet is gorgeous. It isn’t dirty and smelly and polluted and populated by backwards acting and thinking apes.”

“Like me?”

“No, not like you, Steves,” Lindsey said. “You’re an exception. Which is why we’re all willing to be around you. If you were a brain dead ape, we’d have said bye a long time ago. Actually, I would have said bye a long time ago. So we’re not including you in John’s assessment of this planet.”

“Thank you,” Stevie said. 

There was a long pause.

So, you’re not freaking out then?” Ken finally said. “You haven’t run out the door screaming yet.”

“Well, it is bizarre but I mean, I know you guys and you’ve never done anything to me. Plus, you’re being open and honest about all this and I figure you wouldn’t do that if you were trying to keep this a secret so you could do something to me. I mean, it’s weird but I’ve been watching you guys while you’re telling me this stuff and I really don’t see any hint of deception at all, even though this is the most farfetched thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“We don’t want to hurt you, love,” Mick said. “If we are stranded here then we would like to just live out our lives as humans. Just don’t tell anyone our secret.”

“Are you kidding? Who would I tell,” Stevie said.

Everyone chuckled. Lindsey got up, walked over and kissed her forehead. 

“Okay, I was wrong about you not being able to handle the secret but just the same, don’t be freaked out by us. We’re human now, for all intents and purposes.”

Stevie nodded. Lindsey kissed her lips before he went and sat back down on the sofa across from her.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Four

After her friends left, Stevie did manage to get a bit of sleep, although her head was still swirling from everything she had learned over the past 24 hours. But she kept telling herself, if her friends meant to hurt her, surely they would have done it by now. Even Lindsey, who had been so insulting, rude and cruel, had never raised a hand to her. Still, she couldn’t get the image of her friends all being purple and bald with big, black eyes out of her head. 

Finally, she got up when she found she couldn’t sleep anymore. She ate a light breakfast of eggs, toast and coffee and got ready to go into the studio. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

What struck her when she got to the studio was how normal everything was. At first, she kept thinking of them as transplanted space aliens but as the afternoon wore on and everyone behaved like they normally did, she lost that feeling and just regarded them like she did on any other day. She supposed that for all intents and purposes now, they really were human since they had lived on Earth a long time and that thought made her feel better about the situation. No one mentioned the conversation they had with her or the events of the night before, instead they all got down to business and Stevie guessed this was their way of showing her that they were the same people she’d known yesterday and just because she knew now didn’t mean they were going to act any differently. 

Now she was sitting at the console with Richard and Ken, watching while Christine worked on one of her songs. It was just business as usual with them, chitchatting over songs while turning dials and moving switches. To be honest, it was a bit boring after the earthshaking revelation she had received earlier that morning. 

So much so that after a couple of takes from Christine and about a half hour of muttered conversation from Richard and Ken while working with the soundboard, Stevie finally cleared her throat.

“So…when are one of you going to take me to your leader?” she said, loud enough for her friends to hear.

Richard and Ken immediately stopped talking and huge grins spread over their faces.

“Am I the leader?” Richard asked Ken.

“No, I thought I was,” Ken said. 

“No, you can’t be the leader, you’re the youngest….or were.”

Ken glanced at Christine before pointing to her.

“That’s our leader. So if you want to go in the iso booth, you’re more than welcome to,” Ken said while Richard snickered. 

“Let me guess,” Richard said, swiveling his chair around towards her. “You’re surprised we’re not acting alien and discussing alien things after we told you our secret so you’re taking it upon yourself to initiate the conversation yourself.”

“I just feel weird sitting here, knowing you are aliens but you’re acting the same as you always have.”

“Because as we said before, we’re technically human now,” Ken said. “Now if you want us to act like Mork and say shazbot and nanoo nanoo and sit in a chair on our heads, we can. Or we can act the way we’ve always acted.”

“Just wanted to see your reaction is all,” Stevie said with an impish grin. 

Richard stared at her for a moment before putting his index finger against her forehead. Stevie frowned when he held it there while making a weird humming sound. After ten seconds, he stopped humming and took his finger away.

“And what was that for?” Stevie said. 

“That’s for me to know,” Richard said while Ken laughed. “But if I were you, I’d never fart ever again.”

He poked her arm playfully when Stevie laughed. 

Suddenly, the power went out. Darkness descended over everything and there was silence except for Lindsey yelling out, “Son of a bitch!” in the lounge. The room was enclosed with no windows so there was nothing but pitch darkness. 

“Do you know where the flashlights are?” Stevie heard Richard saying to Ken. 

“No, because I never thought of the lights going out be…”

Stevie gasped when they heard a thundering boom in the distance.

“The hell was that?” Ken said. 

They all fell silent but there were no further noises in the distance. They heard fumbling beside them while Christine tried to find the door to the iso booth.

“Wait, Chris!” Ken yelled out, knowing it was useless since the door to the iso booth was closed and he couldn’t find the microphone button. 

He got up and Stevie heard him cursing as he made his way over to the door. After a minute, he found it and opened it. 

“Ken, what the bloody hell’s going on?” she heard Christine say. 

“My guess is the power’s gone out,” Ken said. “The problem is we don’t know where any flashlights are.”

Just then, the lounge door opened and they saw a tiny flame as Lindsey stuck his lighter into the room. 

“Shit, why didn’t we think of that?” Richard said before reaching into his jean pocket. 

They kept flicking the lighters on and off but they still had no idea where any flashlights or candles were. But they banded together and guided by the tiny flames of their lighters made it outside. 

Then they were in for a shock. 

It was late at night but there didn’t seem to be any lights anywhere for miles around. All around them, no signs of lights or electricity, except for a weird orange glow in the distance. They looked at it for a moment before Stevie realized something was on fire in the distance. When she told that to the others, they looked at each other. 

“There was a loud boom awhile ago,” Ken said.

“You guys heard that too? We heard it back in the lounge,” Lindsey said. “We wondered what it was.”

“Maybe that’s the reason the power is out for miles,” Mick said, looking around. “Maybe a building blew up and disrupted the power.”

Suddenly, there was a bright burst of light from above and everyone gasped and shielded their eyes. Stevie slammed her hands over her eyes as the light got brighter and brighter. She could feel a couple of people moving next to her, to shield her, she guessed but it was so bright, she didn’t dare take her hands off her eyes to see who it was. 

“Oh crap!”

Stevie slowly took her hands away when she heard Richard’s voice. She looked around and when she realized the light wasn’t blinding, she finally looked up and her breath caught in her throat when she saw a gargantuan spaceship hovering in the sky above them.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Five

Everyone stood there in the parking lot in complete shock. Stevie tried to get a sense of how big the ship was but all she could see was lights all over what she figured was the underside of it. There had been a moon but the thing was so huge, it was blocking it so the lights were all that could be seen. The lights were spread out but even so, Stevie knew that didn’t mean the lights went all the way to the edges. Still, the ship was big enough that any jet fighter would be foolish to mess with it. She heard her friends softly discussing it and she edged closer, figuring they might be the experts on spaceships. They were muttering about motherships and how huge it was as well as trying to speculate on where it came from since according to them, there were no known civilizations closer than the Andromeda Galaxy and the Andromadans were peaceful, also according to them. It was a lot of talk but Stevie sensed her friends had no idea who these aliens were either.

Then suddenly, a loud voice boomed out of the sky. It was so loud that Stevie and the others had to hold their hands over their ears and even then it was making Stevie’s head throb. The voice wasn’t speaking in English though, it was an alien language. Stevie was still trying unsuccessfully to block out the booming voice but she noticed her friends were now uncovering their ears and listening intently. This got her attention because she suspected they knew what the alien was saying. Keeping her hands clamped over her ears, she moved closer to them and watched them. Her friends were keeping their eyes skyward as they listened. They stayed that way for a few minutes before they looked at each other and headed back inside. As they did, Lindsey grabbed Stevie’s arm and jerked his head towards the front door, indicating she should go inside also. Stevie nodded and walked with Lindsey back into the building. Going inside, things weren’t any better since the voice could still be heard loud and clear and now they were in darkness again. But her friends didn’t stop there; they used their lighters and guided their way back to their studio. Stevie followed them and when they got inside, they kept on going until they were inside the iso booth with the doors closed. Only then was the voice blocked out and Stevie let out a sigh of relief as she took her hands away from her ears. 

“We know this lot, it’s the Emperor’s people,” Mick said to Stevie.

“I thought you guys knew the language, you looked like you did,” Stevie said.

“Yes, it’s not our language but our people had to learn it along with everyone else,” Mick said. “Because it was the official language and not our supposedly dirty, filthy, common language.”

“Why are they here?” Stevie said.

“They want us,” Lindsey said. 

“They want you? For what? I thought they got rid of you by bringing you here,” Stevie said. 

By now, no one was bothering to use their lighters so they were standing and speaking in total darkness.

“I thought so too but they’re ordering us to surrender to the nearest spaceship or else,” Ken said.

“Nearest spaceship? There’s more of them?” Stevie said in shock.

“They wouldn’t know what we look like now,” Lindsey said. “They programmed our minds to be downloaded into random fetuses. So we could be anywhere on Earth. Plus, they probably don’t realize we all found each other so I’m guessing yes, there are ships all over the Earth now.”

“Or else what though? They’re going to attack us?” Stevie said, panicked.

“They didn’t say but I think that’s implied,” Ken said. “But why they want us, they aren’t saying. They just want us.”

“What are you going to do?” Stevie said.

There was total silence for a moment.

“I suppose we could surrender but knowing the Emperor, that wouldn’t be the end of it,” Mick said. 

“No, he’d want to invade this place. Especially if his troops came all this way in the first place,” Richard said. 

“But if he doesn’t know what we look like in the first place, we might be able to use that to our advantage and find a way to stop him and his lot for good this time,” Christine said. 

There was another long pause.

“Chris,” Richard said. “The last time, we would have had our people backing us up if we’d succeeded in assassinating the Emperor. It’s just the six of us now. Even if we do take the emperor out, provided he’s even up there in one of the ships, what would happen next? All that would do is cause the rest of them to annihilate the Earth in revenge.”

“But if there were a way to avoid them long enough to rally the Earthlings,” Christine said. “I mean, if they were going to invade and try to subjugate the planet, we’d have tons of willing fighters.”

There was another long pause.

“Could they have caused the huge fire?” Stevie said tentatively.

“Maybe and the power outage,” Lindsey said. “The power outage would take out the weapons systems like nukes and most of human civilization depends on electricity now. Without it, the major cities will be crippled.”  
“Knowing that and knowing that not surrendering would be making it worse for the Earthlings, do you think it’s wise to keep on hiding,” Lindsey said. 

“I think if they want us that badly, they won’t annihilate the Earth, at least not to the extent they’re implying,” John said. “They don’t know what we look like so they wouldn’t destroy everything in sight and risk burying us forever under tons of rubble.”

“But they can’t tell if you have alien minds?” Stevie said.

“Perhaps but I’m guessing if they had the technology to use that to a large extent, they would have done a sweep of the planet and not just rely on the Super Ultra Megaphone up there to deliver an ultimatum,” Lindsey said. “I’m willing to be if they do have something that could scan our minds, it’s in their laboratories, which is why they need us to surrender to them.”

“I agree,” Mick said. “If they were really all powerful, we’d be in their hands by now. I think the power outage and display of motherships is an intimidation ploy. They’re trying to scare us into surrendering. Hopefully, that’s all it is but I’m thinking with the others that it wouldn’t matter one way or the other. Whatever we do, they’re gonna want the Earth. They wouldn’t come all this way just to collect the six of us. There’s something more. I say we wait it out and find out what it is. After all, we’re not a bunch of scared little kids anymore.”

“No, we’re a bunch of coked out, stoned, boozehound twenty somethings who think taking on the might of the Tekallian Army might be a great idea,” Richard said dryly.

“Tekallian?” Stevie said. “That’s what they’re called?”

“Yes,” Lindsey said. 

“So what is your people called then?”

She frowned when no one answered. 

“Um…you guys don’t wanna tell me?” she said after thirty seconds of silence.

Then Richard muttered something really fast that sounded to Stevie like “We’re the…” and then the last part she didn’t understand. She asked him to repeat and there was a sigh from Richard before he said loudly and clearly.

“We are the Farts.”

The room fell into silence and Stevie bit her lip trying not to laugh.

“Before you start giggling like a maniac, the word does not mean what it means in English,” Ken said. 

“Okay but at least I can pronounce yours better than I can pronounce the…um…”

“Tekallian,” Lindsey said.

“Yeah, the Tekallian. So…what do we do first?”

“We?” Richard said. “We’re not including you in this plan of ours.”

“I believe you are since I’m a part of the band,” Stevie said annoyed.

“Stevie, you may be a part of the band but you’re not a Fart,” Mick said. 

“And yes, I know we told you we’re technically human but still, we’ve had experience dealing with these guys, you haven’t,” Ken said. 

“Yes but they might be trying to invade my planet and it is my planet and I wanna help defend it. I suppose I have as much chance defeating them as the six of you do, especially since I’m sure they have better weapons than the Earth does. Besides, I don’t want you leaving me and never seeing you again or having something happen to me. If we fail, I want to fail together.”

There was another long silence.

“I agree with Stevie,” Lindsey finally said. “I mean, we’re talking about recruiting Earthlings to fight with us, right? And those Earthlings wouldn’t have any experience either. Besides, if they are going to attack, I’d rather Stevie was with us where we knew she was safe.”

“If we’re doing this, I think we should start with our friends and family,” Ken said. “At least the ones who are nearby. Maybe we can find a way to shelter them. I know I want to get my mom and dad and Scooter and Diane.”

“Yeah, I want my mom and dad too,” Richard said. 

“I’d like to get my family too but they’re up north,” Lindsey said. 

“And mine too,” Stevie said. 

“Yeah, well at least yours are in the same state, We English persons’ families are across the ruddy pond,” Mick said. 

“Well, like Ken said, we can at least get the people closest to us and find a way to get to the others. Also, we’re gonna have to get supplies and come up with a game plan if they’re gonna keep the electricity off. We’re gonna have to live off the land and keep moving, especially if they decide to come down and hunt for us. If we can find some of our friends too, we can all work together but we shouldn’t stay in one place too long.”

“If I might say something…” Stevie said.

“Yeah?” Lindsey said.

“If we’re gonna be on the move, after we get everyone we can here, we should move north towards San Jose and me and Lindsey’s families?”

“I’m for that,” Lindsey said. “Except we’ll have to find coats for the colder nights up north.”

“Well, I suggest, mates, that we get a move on and put this plan into action while we still can before it all goes pear shaped and hundreds of Tekallian are down here.”

There were murmured agreements, after which everyone used their lighters again and made their way to the iso booth door.


End file.
